With a crisp whistle, an "Amur" class inland river steam gunboat slowly docked on the dock of the Republic Village. Wang Shichuan, the former commander of Dashun County, who was transferred from Heishui Port to preside over the work, immediately stepped forward respectfully to greet Wei Boqiu and his party who came to inspect the situation.

It's late May, and not long after the Heilongjiang River has just thawed, there are still some ice floes floating on the river, but this is no longer an obstacle to navigation. Therefore, Wei Boqiu, who had just returned from Yantai Port, immediately took a non-stop boat to Gonghe Village, a winter camp set up before the winter of last year, and sent a batch of key supplies here.

Located on the site of the Komsomolsk City in Russia, the Republic Village is a small civil and engineering mixed structure with a circumference of only more than 800 meters. The garrison consisted of just over 300 men, with some of the old troops brought from Shandong by Wang Shichuan as officers, and soldiers composed of Japanese, Buryat Mongols, Daurs, and Mings. They defended this key pass in the middle reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and had almost touched the border of the Manchu and Russian spheres of influence.

"More than two months ago, a group of more than 30 horse bandits came to the stockade, and they sent people to inquire about us, but the headquarters did not understand them, so they drove them away. They didn't bother with seeing that we were outnumbered, and that we had muskets, but I had a hunch that they would come back. Wang Shichuan, who was wearing a dogskin hat, wrapped his hands in his sleeves like an old farmer in the Northeast in later generations, and only took out his hands when he saw Wei Boqiu, and then saluted and said.

"It should be the Siberian Cossacks." Wei Boqiu nodded. said that he knew this information, and then cheered them up: "This time I sent you another hundred people, all of whom are willing to 'change their evil ways and return to righteousness'. Many of them are still your fellow countrymen, from Weihui Mansion, Henan. ”

"Deputy Commander Wei, what we need here is a woman...... Wang Shichuan said with a little headache, "You see, we hundreds of young men nested together, and we almost had an accident last winter. If you don't give these soldiers land and daughters-in-law, there will be problems sooner or later. ”

Wei Boqiu smiled lightly. Didn't speak. He knew in his heart that Wang Shichuan was deliberately saying that the situation was a little more good, in fact, how could there be such an exaggeration in this era, and many troops were out for a few years. I haven't seen everyone become friends. To put it bluntly, in this era of extremely low productivity, people's first physiological need to be satisfied is still to have enough to eat.

However, Wei Boqiu didn't say that he wouldn't give women here. After all, several other strongholds such as Temple Street, Henggon Village, and Jiangdong Village are now very balanced in the ratio of men and women. There is no reason that the republican village is full of men, which is not conducive to the reproduction of the population, so as to consolidate the military and political survival of the people on the east coast here.

"When the ships transporting migrants are repaired and maintained, a big ship will come next month. When the time comes, I'll bring you a lot of new mud legs, and I'll settle them down, so don't go wrong. By the way, most of these newcomers are women, and how to distribute them at that time must be strictly in accordance with the regulations. Whoever gets the highest rating has a first choice. Wei Boqiu walked to the watchtower next to him, and walked up the wooden stairs. He said.

"The one with the highest score is chosen first, and the beautiful ones are all picked by them. Haha, in the future, these rabbit cubs don't have to work hard, so they will be an ugly woman for the rest of their lives. Wang Shichuan followed behind Wei Boqiu and said with a smile: "Back then, Mo Dashuai operated dismally in Heishui, and set the rules of the point system for everyone, and now it seems that it is really a good governance." ”

Hearing that Wang Shichuan and the others were still nostalgic for Mo Dashuai, who had been transferred, Wei Boqiu didn't say anything, but he was very tired in his heart. But now is not the time to say anything to these coarse people with terrifyingly low emotional intelligence, and in the future, he will use his own means to let these people know that this place is no longer surnamed Mo.

A few minutes later, Wei Boqiu climbed to the top of the ten-meter-high watchtower, raised his binoculars and looked south in the whistling northwest wind. In the field of vision is a large wasteland and continuous mountains, and between the wasteland and mountains, there is a river like a match, that is the Amur River, or the Heilongjiang River. The grass and trees along the river have spit out a few traces of emerald green, and there are some wild sheep and reindeer foraging on the bank. They tread on the soft ground after the snow melted, carefully cut grass from under the snow to eat, and then ran to the rushing river to drink.

The field was covered with a thick layer of barren grass, and underneath the barren grass was black earth. Wei Boqiu has never doubted its fertile Cheng dù, you just have to grab a handful of dirt with your hands, and the fat is the description of this place. Last year, the population of more than 8,500 people in Henggon Village, Miaojie, and Jiangdong Village developed nearly 50,000 mu of farmland, and the average harvest of oats per mu was 50 catties, and the yield was already quite good.

Of course, this amount of grain production still does not seem to be enough to feed the growing population of the four villages of the Amur River, and about 500 tons of grain are still needed from outside the country every year to barely maintain the balance. These grains imported from the outside world, in addition to the new Jiangdong Village and Gonghe Village, the other two villages need to pay a certain fee, such as Henggon Village is paid with placer gold, and Temple Street is paid with fur and animal fat. In a bitter cold place like the Amur Valley, if a walled city cannot be sustained by sustained blood transfusions from the government, then there is no need to exist unless it is of great strategic value.

The four villages of the Amur River under the control of the people on the east bank undoubtedly have this strategic value, especially the fortress of the Republic Village, which has penetrated into the middle and lower reaches of the Amur River, and many of the nearby savage Jurchen tribes are paying taxes to the Manchus, and even a considerable number of them are still providing soldiers and materials for the Manchus. In order to continue to expand their influence among these tribes and win them over from the Manchu side, the people on the eastern coast must maintain their military presence here for a long time, and at the same time, it is best to infiltrate and control these Jurchen tribes economically, and tie them to the chariot of the people on the eastern coast.

Once the Manchu influence was cleared here, it would be equivalent to cutting off half of the wings of the Ningguta, and its fragile defenses would face the threat of the people on the east coast. Of course, this process will certainly not be smooth sailing, and the Manchus will not sit idly by and watch the people on the east coast dig their corners here with impunity, and a fierce struggle and even war will be expected. In 1652, wasn't there a great war between the Qing court and the Russians in the Amur Valley for the local natives? However, it ended in a crushing defeat for the Qing court, and since then, the local Jurchen and Mongol tribes have changed the previous practice of paying taxes to the Qing court and Russia at the same time, and only paid tribute to the Russian Cossacks who came to collect taxes.

"Lord Wangzhai, this year, Gonghe Village will reclaim at least 4,000 acres of wheat fields, and all of them will be planted with wheat, and you can start preparing next." Wei Boqiu put down his binoculars, and then said to several local military and political officials who followed behind him.

"Only 4,000 acres?" Wang Shichuan was stunned for a moment and said: "We have more than 400 people here now, according to Deputy Commander Wei, there will be more people in the future, but only 4,000 acres of wheat fields have been cultivated, this efficiency is too low, right?" ”

"It's not low, because you still have important things to do later." Wei Boqiu waved his hand and said, "Next month, the upper authorities will organize a large-scale military operation in the four villages of the Amur River. At that time, the 105th Company will be the core and some garrisons in the Heishui area will be assisted, and at the same time, 1,500 strong men will be requisitioned and transferred from Miaojie Port, Henggon Village, Jiangdong Village, and Gonghe Village, and they will travel up the Amur River by boat, escorted by gunboats, and collect taxes in some villages and villages along the way. ”

"These stockades already have to pay taxes to the Tartars and Russians at the same time, and life is already very difficult, and now we have to collect taxes again, will they still have a way to live?" Hearing Wei Boqiu's words, the officials, including Wang Shichuan, opened their mouths wide in surprise.

Their fears are not unfounded. Because in the Amur River Basin, because of the low level of productivity, the daily life of the local population has been very difficult since ancient times. The food, in particular, has always been very tight, which has led to the number of local populations never going up. Now these people were collected by the Russian Cossacks from time to time, and at the same time had to pay regular tribute to the Manchus, and the days were already very hard, and if the people from the east came to collect taxes again, these people would immediately go bankrupt. At that time, they may have to raise troops to fight, after all, the dog will jump over the wall if he is in a hurry.

"If they find life difficult, then we can stop the taxes that should have been given to the Russians or the Manchus, and we can keep them safe. If they feel that it is not safe, then they will move their clans and villages to settle near the Republic Village, and with the invincible army on the east coast, no one will be able to threaten them at that time. On this point, we must make it clear to those Jurchens and Mongols when the time comes. Forget it, now is not the time to discuss this, anyway, you just need to get ready, and the army will set off next month. Wei Boqiu said.

After inspecting the work of the village and passing on the spirit of the summit, Wei Boqiu and his party had a whole fish feast (salmon, salmon, etc.) for lunch in the village, and then boarded the boat and hurried back, where he also had to go to Kushiro Port to preside over the development of the coal mine there. As the second coal mine in the Heishui area, this matter is not sloppy, and if it is done well, it will also be a great achievement. (To be continued......)